At Wangaratta all HITH patients remained admitted to HITH until medical review to confirm discharge. This “compulsory” medical review unnecessarily prolonged LOS for low risk (target group) of patients.
To improve their LOS Wangaratta implemented Criteria Led Discharges (CLD), which they “stole shamelessly” from the 2015 HRT HITH Meeting. Once they identified a low risk target group for CLD trial they:
• Revised HITH Referral & Admission form to include “Criteria for Discharge”
• Educated HITH RNs re: CLD target group & need to prompt MO referrers to use CLD option for appropriate patients
• Revised KPIs for meaningful data collection – enabling measurable outcomes
Since formal introduction of CLD in January 2016 for the HITH patient target group:
• LOS has reduced by 57%
• Scheduled medical reviews reduced by 58%
• No increase in unscheduled medical reviews or unplanned returns to inpatient care
Click here to view a summary slide of the Innovation.